Marco Civil: A Brazilian reaction to surveillance on the internet
September 15, 2014 - by Veridiana Alimonti.
Bill No. 2126/2011 in Brazil, known as the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (in Portuguese: Marco Civil da Internet), was finally passed by the Brazilian Senate on 22 April 2014, and sanctioned the following day by President Dilma Rousseff at the opening ceremony of NETmundial. With this, the bill became Federal Law No. 12965/2014, which is the result of widespread mobilisation by civil society searching for a guarantee on internet rights – a mobilisation which resulted in an innovative participatory movement in the Brazilian lawmaking process. The three key pillars of the Marco Civil – net neutrality, intermediary liability aligned with freedom of expression, and data protection and privacy – encouraged people to link themselves to the mobilisation campaign and great resistance in the National Congress of Brazil. The purpose of this report is to highlight the relevant points in the process of preparation and approval of the law, as well as to discuss the rules related to the three pillars, while emphasising data protection and privacy.